holding baby

Matix loves to hold Solace, especially now that he hold his head up so high and looks around. Matix just squeals with excitement every time he does this.  It's so cute to watch them loving and taking care of each other.

more free fun

This fun little freebie, we found by accident. Paul wanted a very specific light to use at work, and thought they would for sure carry it at the Bass Pro Shop, so we all went there one evening. Turns out there was also a free children's activity going on. Hooray! There are more days of this fun Halloween-y stuff, so you should go too. Candy stops hidden around in the store for the kids to find, monster face making, bracelets, coloring pages, photo-ops, you name it. So fun.

Matix and Hawken made Frankenstein faces, Lullaby made a mummy, and then she helped make a vampire for Solace.  We are going to hang them on their door handles. Cute, huh?

sandbox

Lullaby's favorite place is in the sandbox. She would prefer to be outside, digging and getting dirty, than to be anywhere else. Early in the cool mornings, in the heat of the afternoon or late at night just before bed...

mail

We have been getting lots of mail lately. Mostly for the kids. Of course. :) 4 packages from Grandma Stacy, and a card from Grandpa Chuck. Grandpa also promised to send a box of books soon, which the kids are very eager to get.

This little skeleton guy is so funny. You pull his head and he yells, then the string recoils and pulls his head back on. Very startling when we first figured it out!

These kids sure are spoiled. What thoughtful Grandparents they have. Thank you Grandma Stacy! Thank you Grandpa Chuck!

One of the packages from Stacy was for Paul, who rarely ever gets anything. SPAM and mac and cheese bandaids. So funny! Thanks Stacy!

Arnolds in Texas!

A million years ago when Paul was on his mission, he met the most amazing family, the Arnolds. Their son Cole lives a few hours north of here and when they came to visit him, they took an extra road trip down to visit us. So nice.

Matix and Hawken made them play hide and seek the minute they got here. The Arnold's are good sports! Then the kids went to bed and we got to chat with them all evening. They snuggled up with baby Solace a bit too, I think they are ready for grandbabies. :) It was so good to see them and catch up. They have such sweet things to say about Paul and I love hearing their versions of the stories from Paul's mission. We also talked a bunch about Cole's interesting new adventures with roommates and runaway pigs... We love you guys! Come visit us again soon!

Humane Society Fall Festival

The Humane Society had a free fall festival and we of course had to go. This was the most creative way to get kids to the Humane Society, and fall in love with the animals and BEG their parents to take one home.  So clever. Thankfully, we already have a dog, and that logic worked perfect for my guys. "Oooohh, Mommy! Look at that cute kitten! I want him!" "Well, we can't get a kitten because we already have a dog." "Oh yeah, okay."  Lovely.  There were also free hotdogs, popcorn, bottles of water and candy stations... Heaven.

The employees took specific animals out of the cages for the kids to pet and fall in love with. Matix especially loved this tiny dog.

There were free activities like decorating pumpkins. The kids loved that they had glitter. Matix only used blue, because "blue is the coolest color", and Hawken used every color he could grab, and Lullaby picked silver and pink.

Half way through painting his pumpkin, Hawk noticed a scary guy with his face "painted MEAN!" I love Hawk's reaction:

Later the kids jumped in the bounce house. Lullaby was nervous at first, but then loved it.

Solace slept most of the time, good baby.  Paul couldn't come with, but we had fun just the 5 of us anyway.  Although I heard about it every two seconds that Daddy was missing out...

Face paint. Matix got a "dangerous spider" and Lulli asked for a "buh-fwy" (butterfly). Cute.  Obviously, I shouldn't try to go into face painting professionally, but the kids liked them, and that's all that matters.

Also, before we left, the Humane Society people were taking pictures for everyone. Since they took it with a white background, I thought they were going to photoshop in some animals or something, but no, this was it. And they gave me a disc full of oddball pictures, in a blueish hue... This was the best of the bunch.

We had a great time. I love free fun.  The kids were wiped out after spending all morning there. My favorite kind of nap is one after a long day.

zoo

We went to the zoo last week and they were just starting to decorate it for Halloween. The kids loved finding all the pumpkins hidden everywhere... in the lions area, in the fish tanks, hanging from the trees, everywhere.

This trip to the zoo we saw mostly just birds. I had no idea how many they had at this zoo. We were in parts, for the majority of the time, that we hadn't seen before.  By the way, flamingo chicks = adorable.

Hawken's monkey impression. Pretty good.

Helping push the stroller, Matix's new favorite job, even when I don't want him to do it. :)

Paul was working that evening, so we took advantage and spent the day with him. I love that he gets to spend some time with these amazing little kiddies of ours, even if it's not all the time.  They are pretty fun to be around.